The Smart Home Trap

Your home may be watching more closely than you realise. Smart cameras, video doorbells, voice assistants, televisions, thermostats, locks, cars and appliances promise comfort and control. But each connected product can also create another account, another subscription and another stream of personal data that reveals how you live. The Smart Home Trap is a practical guide to the hidden bargain behind the connected household. It explains what devices may record, how everyday data can expose routines and why products can change long after you have paid for them. Inside, you will learn how cameras affect neighbours and visitors, what voice assistants may hear, how televisions track viewing habits and why cars, wearables and appliances now share the same data ecosystem. It also shows how to protect key accounts, recognise unnecessary monitoring, prepare for outages and prevent former users from retaining access. The book also explores the human impact of constant observation, from children growing up under connected eyes to families becoming anxious as every movement triggers alerts. Balanced and practical, The Smart Home Trap does not reject technology. It shows how to choose devices carefully, limit data collection, preserve manual controls and keep your home private and under your control.